A Matter of Trust
by Lydian Stone
Summary: Ziva's 'friend' visits and it does not go well. She intends to find solace in sanding a boat, but she is not the only one that night. Spoilers through Royals and Loyals, Tiva and some paternal Gibbs.
1. Chapter 1

A MATTER OF TRUST

CHAPTER 1

HURRICANE

Once Gibbs and McGee had left the bullpen Tony blurted the question he'd been dying to ask.

"So, Little Miss Hasty, when does the Miami Hurricane blow into town?"

DiNozzo had observed his partner blowing through her paperwork at breakneck speed all afternoon.

"Tony, what makes you think that my friend is coming into town? Can I not just walk away on a Friday night without leaving a mountain of reports for myself come Monday?"

Her fingers continued to fly during her casual response, not losing a precious moment of productivity.

Tony considered this before crossing the bullpen and sitting on the corner of her desk. He watched as she typed and noted that her error rate seemed to increase the longer he sat. Something was definitely on her mind and he knew the tell tale bounce in her step, the decrease in bickering and the lack of a single Hebrew utterance in frustration the past few days added up to one likely possibility.

"Well, for starters you've been overly pleasant, you haven't given Gibbs any guff or ranted to McGee or me about anything. In addition to that your weapons have not been cleaned, rearranged, or otherwise recreationally handled all week. It's well known that the best remedy for life's little irritations is life's little infatuations. Or is it more than that?"

He added, forcing a twitch of his eyebrow and a knowing smile.

At this her fingers stilled and she gave him a sly look of her own.

"Since I do value my time and I would much rather finish my report than endure your constant prodding, I will admit that, yes, my friend is arriving tonight."

He opened his mouth at the same time her hand rose to cut him off.

"NO, you may not meet him."

"Come on, Ziva! I promise to be on my best behavior."

"Well, Tony, if you are on your very best behavior from now until his next visit, perhaps you can meet him then."

With that she printed her final document, placed it in the file and started the process of logging off and gathering her belongings. Her coworker had not moved from his perch on the desk or given a slick reply, instead he sat pensively staring at the wall while she completed this process. She paused in front of him, questioning the weight of his gaze and wondering what was going on behind those eyes that didn't seem to register her proximity.

"What is it Tony?"

The uncertainty in her voice roused him from his thoughts. He tipped his head to the side, smiled at her and replied lightly,

"Nothing. Ziva, have a good weekend." He didn't add the rest of his thoughts, which would have played out something like, _Have you done a complete background check?_ Can _I please rough him up just a little bit?_ and especially, _Don't let him get too close._

She moved passed him and he resisted the urge to reach out and touch her arm, delaying her inevitable departure as though once she left she'd never be that close to him again.

He noted that he needed to take his romantic sensibilities down a notch.

She waved with a smile as the elevator doors closed, leaving him to his thoughts and a cluttered desk.

Tony had not spent his afternoon diligently working. In fact, he couldn't remember what report he had abandoned just minutes before, only that it was the same one that he'd stared at all day. His train of thought had been derailed every time he looked up and saw Ziva trying to tamp down her excitement.

With each bounce in her step the feeling of dread within him grew.


	2. Friction

****** I do not own them, nor will I claim them on my tax return.**

CHAPTER 2

FRICTION

It wasn't unusual for the senior field agent to visit his boss after hours, but it wasn't expected early on a Friday night. When the heavy steps fell on the risers the older man looked at the clock then at the man himself with a questioning pause.

"Hey, Boss, felt like sanding. Do you mind?" Gibbs tossed him a sanding block which Tony caught without missing a beat.

As the evening progressed, Tony was too preoccupied to feel the weight of the stare bearing down on him. His boss was used to DiNozzo's company, but not his silence. The questions were welling up inside him but he knew that if Tony came to talk, he'd talk when he was ready. Gibbs might not know the details but he did know that the only person who had this dramatic of an effect on him had been acting oddly in a different way so it was likely related.

Ziva had been in a good mood and his best guess was that this reason had a name. She had not dated anyone to his knowledge since Michael Rivkin, or since being held captive in Somalia. She hadn't seemed to be suffering long-term psychological trauma, not any more than she ever did given her violent past, but she had avoided relationship until now.

Frankly, Gibbs assumed there was a specific reason she was holding off, the reason being the man currently sanding his boat.

Even if Tony weren't romantically interested in her, It made sense that he was at odds with the idea of Ziva dating again since he couldn't trust her judgment in the past. Gibbs wasn't settled with her falling for an unknown character either so he couldn't think of anything to say to ease Tony's mind. He kept quiet because at the end of the day, Ziva was his agent, not his daughter so no matter how much he cared for her he wasn't going to intervene unless it was necessary, even if that meant he passed an awkward evening with only the sounds of Tony's erratic scraping and the occasional sawing and clinking of hand tools that did little to mute the sound of Tony's breaking heart.

* * *

Around midnight the door creaked opened and hesitant footsteps followed. The scraping ceased as two stunned pairs of eyes waited to see her expression. Tony's heart sped while his brain tried to quell the selfish hope that this meant the end of Mr. Miami. When she came into full view, overwhelming concern for her trumped his joy. While Tony could not move his firmly planted feet, his boss calmly put down his tools, walked towards her and placed his hands gently on her arms. His slightly lowered gaze probed for a reading of her thoughts.

She shifted not only her weight but her also her eyes, revealing her extreme anxiety.

She restrained the inflection in her voice as she explained, "I do not want to be alone right now. Can I please just stay for a while and help you work?"

He tipped her chin up with one finger, forcing her to look up. There was a hitch in her breath while her eyes squeezed back the sentimental tears that threatened to flow. He kept her in place until she opened her eyes again and saw the concern etched in his expression.

He cleared his throat and spoke for the first time in hours, "Of course, Ziver, as long as you don't mind some company."

She had been so distracted that she hadn't noticed her partner on the other side of the boat. Upon registering his presence she turned away from him, grabbed a sander and got to work without so much as a nod in his general direction.

She focused on one patch of wood which kept her out of Tony's line of sight. She drudged the coarse paper over and over the wood as though the friction could erase what had transpired. She willed the boat to be smooth; flawless. With each memory of her failings this need became stronger. She gripped the sanding block with white knuckles and had an urge to use it on herself. She knew that was an irrational thought, but no sensible course of action would ever remove her imperfections. At least physical pain would be a welcome distraction from her inner turmoil. Only her deeply seeded discipline kept the sander firmly on the wood and away from her skin, but the struggle not to misuse it remained.

Tony was a mixed bag of emotions. It was obvious the hurricane either never made DC landfall or had already blown through town leaving distress in its wake. The investigator in him ran through various scenarios to determine what event had led the woman he held most dear to be sanding opposite him. He could feel the intensity of her movements through vibrations in the wood as she violently refined the indifferent craft. His sanding became less and less regular as he let his mind consider his partner. The silence should have been awkward, but it seemed to work in this one precise moment. There was nothing the normally smooth talker could think to say that would not end the evening badly, and for once he was mature enough to come to this realization before he opened his mouth and ruined a tenuously intimate moment. Sure, there was a boat between them, and sure, her thoughts were anywhere but on him, but she had not left after he saw her in a vulnerable state. Ziva had not run from him. Ignoring him was the best-case scenario and he found it to be oddly palatable.

The third party to the monastic event was perhaps the most concerned. He knew there was a delicate balance at play in the room. He wanted nothing more than to find out what had happened to this woman whom he would protect with his life. He wanted to go and wring the neck of anyone who caused her pain yet he showed restraint, knowing that she needed calm. She came here to focus on something outside of herself. His independent agent, who rarely became undone, came to him in her distress and that showed an enormous amount of confidence in him. The last thing he wanted to do was risk running her off with even a mild interrogation.

This was the room where Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs went for his own peace, where even if he didn't have the answers, he seemed to be master of this domain and those who spoke to him in it credited him with any wisdom they gained from the journey down those steps. On this night, however, a flood of inadequacy washed over him.

What surprised him the most about this peculiar evening was the silence between his 'kids.' The dynamics were off. He had been visited by each of them when they had sought wisdom or solace in the past, but the joint experience, while apparently working, was a novelty.

One certainty was that while the younger two silently worked out their frustrations, more mature eyes were no longer meant to be sleep deprived. Their unofficial chaperone delayed his ascension up the steps as long as he could. He wasn't sure what would happen if he left them to their own devices, but he would not have been surprised to see the boat seaworthy by morning if Ziva kept up her frantic pace. In the end he decided not to take any chances. Ziva felt his calloused hand gently cover hers to still her movements and heard his even voice coaxing her, "That's enough. Come on. You have the guest room." She allowed Gibbs to place his hand on her back and lead her upstairs but she did not spare even a neutral glance at her deflated partner.

Once upstairs Gibbs guided her to sit on the bed. He returned, handed his dazed guest some clothes, told her where to find a new toothbrush and instructed her to get ready for bed. He did not feel right leaving her, even though they were under the same roof. He didn't honestly think she would bring harm to herself, but it was obvious that she was troubled and while she had shown more caution in the past year, she still had the potential to be unpredictable when emotions ran high.

He sighed as he closed the door to give her some privacy.


	3. Sit Rep

CHAPTER 3

SIT REP

Gibbs went downstairs to check on his other charge, who was sitting on a sawhorse flipping his sander in the air while staring at nothing in particular. He was ready to talk so Gibbs pulled up the other sawhorse, poured both of them a drink and waited.

"Is she okay?"

Once the question escaped his lips Tony knew it wasn't going to be answered directly.

"Sit rep, DiNozzo."

"She planned on meeting a guy from Miami at the airport. She would refer to him as 'a friend,' but it was obviously more. She wouldn't tell me a name or anything about him so for all I know he could be a serial killer. I should have pressed, or had McGee do a search from her phone records so we could do a full background check . . . " Gibbs raised hand truncating his guilt trip.

"Tony, it's not your job to screen her dates."

He took a long sip of bourbon while gauging the younger man's reaction.

DiNozzo rubbed a hand through his hair and rested it on the back of his neck as he answered, "I know that, Boss. I just can't help being . . . concerned."

Gibbs nodded his understanding.

"She's got a lot on her mind. Give her time to work through it."

Tony cracked a smile for the first time that evening. "Yeah, well, I have a lot of experience with that."

Gibbs smirked then replied seriously, "I can't say I'm not concerned myself. And as much as I want to stay with her, I promised my dad that I would go with him to a friend's funeral in Stillwater tomorrow so I'm going to have to cut out early. I need you to be my eyes on the ground. Can you do that?"

Tony seemed relieved to have a mission and nodded his consent.

"Look out for her but no pushing her, DiNozzo." Gibbs warning was loud and clear. "You have the couch." He stood up, stretched, then paused his movements and added, "Was there anything else on your mind?"

"Would you believe that I just felt like sanding a boat with my socially awkward boss on a Friday night?"

"Nope."

"Didn't think so." With a signature DiNozzo smile he rose, grabbed both jars that served as glasses, and headed up the stairs. "Night Boss."

"Goodnight."

* * *

Gibbs followed a few minutes later, stopping in the kitchen to grab a bag of peas from the freezer and a towel from the drawer before continuing upstairs. As he had hoped, the guestroom door was ajar. He softly knocked, and hearing no objection, he entered. Ziva was lying on her stomach, facing away from the door with her arms resting next to the pillow on either side. He walked up to the bed and slowly sat down on the edge. He gingerly lifted her right forearm then rested it on the towel-wrapped peas.

As he lightly rested a hand on her shoulder he explained, "The way you were sanding, that's going to be sore in the morning." Her surrogate father's gentle care for her opened the floodgates and the tears started to silently flow. He started rubbing soothing circles on her back until her stuttered breaths evened under his touch. After he felt she was calm enough, he tucked some strands of wayward hair behind her ear so he could monitor her emotions as he risked a few questions.

"Ziver, did he physically hurt you?"

Her only response was a slight shake of her head with no change in her vacant expression. Gibbs took a few minutes to digest that. Since she hadn't retreated, he rested his hand supportively on her shoulder, leaned closer to her ear and carefully asked, "Did he take advantage of you?"

His world seemed to stop while he waited those eternal seconds for her weak response.

"No, Gibbs, he did not . . . I am unharmed."

He let out the breath. Her denial didn't quell the urge to drag this guy into interrogation by his ear, but at least his worst fear was not realized. He simply replied, "Okay."

After some quiet moments he spoke again, "DiNozzo's downstairs. I have to leave early in the morning for a funeral but I'm ordering you to stay, sleep in then let him cook you breakfast. He's to report back to me what you eat so do not cut out on him. Do you understand?"

She nodded.

"If you need anything tonight, you come and get one of us, okay?"

She nodded again then eased into a deep sleep under his watchful protection.

There was a light creak from the doorway. Gibbs was not surprised to see a witness to the final intimate scene that had just played out. He knew that Tony was now the one needing a sit-rep, so he reluctantly rose from the bed. He looked over the young woman one last time, snugged the covers under her chin and kissed her cheek, a routine he had not employed since he'd lost Kelly, and he smiled as the memories overtook him.

He clutched Tony's shoulder as he walked through the threshold, leaving Ziva's door ajar. Tony followed his lead down the stairs then started pacing while waiting for Gibbs to give him an update.

"Sit, DiNozzo." he reluctantly obeyed, but his leg continued to bounce involuntarily. "Says she wasn't attacked."

"We both know she's not one to overreact. She's clearly upset, so he must have done _something_. Maybe we should pick him up and get some answers."

While understanding the source of Tony's bold suggestion, he knew it was impractical. "On what grounds? She said nothing happened. I have no doubt he did something to upset her, but it might have been something a bit more . . . conventional."

"Boss, nothing about Ziva is conventional. She doesn't get like this over a simple breakup, and he flew all the way up here so there has to be more to it." Gibbs really did not want to make assumptions, but he also didn't want Tony's investigative side to lay awake all night concocting terrible scenarios which would lead to rash actions.

"Tony, how many guys has she dated since we rescued her?"

"No one else that I know of, but she hasn't been exactly open about her private life lately."

"Before that, do you ever remember a time when a guy broke things off with her?"

Tony tried to remember the significant guys, or even insignificant ones that she had mentioned. He realized that she'd hardly dated at all over the years aside from a few casual dates or flings. He couldn't recall anyone she was serious about aside from Roy and Michael, and those relationships were severed by death. He was starting to see Gibbs' point.

"Tony, I've had four wives and ruined 3 marriages, I can recognize a broken heart when I see one. Problem is, I haven't a clue how to fix 'em." He admitted with a sigh.

"From where I was standing it looked like you knew what you were doing."

His only reply was a shrug.

The older man was exhausted, much more so than the late hour would otherwise dictate.

"Call me tomorrow. I would cancel if I could."

"I know you would, Boss. I'll watch over her."

With that Gibbs rose, clapped Tony on the back, and headed for the stairs for the final time that night.

While one man succumbed to his welcoming covers the other knew he would not find peace any time soon. Anthony DiNozzo sat on the couch thinking but processing very little. Eventually, his eyes closed as well and he drifted into a fitful sleep.


	4. Significance

**CHAPTER 4**

SIGNIFICANCE

Before Ziva opened her eyes she registered the light in the room and realized that the hand rubbing her back lacked the cadence of one who is used to finessing wood. Instead of a smooth rhythm there was an uncertainty in the amount of pressure, the length of movements and even a variation in the spacing of his fingers. She was still facing away from her self-appointed guardian du jour while she thought through the events of the previous night.

_She had been so excited to see Roy again since they had hit it off so well while she was in Miami. He had enough of a clearance in the right agency to know who her father was and vaguely what part she played in Mossad, but not high enough to know of her recent history or any mission details. He was charming and she felt attractive and desirable in his presence. They saw each other at work then they started having the occasional dinner out, then just about every dinner out, but she kept it light and he seemed content with letting her set a slower pace to their relationship._

Since then they had emailed and talked, their friendship seeming firmer with each correspondence. She did not want to consider the inevitability of having to explain her scars or, heaven forbid, any undesirable reaction towards him as a result of her abuse in Somalia. The new Ziva David's relationship strategy was to draw out their friendship, enjoy the moment with every flirtatious smile and meaningful glance while maintaining a precarious balance between friendship and romance. Until last night she thought she had managed it quite well.

As she lay in bed, under Tony's compassionate hand she had no idea what she would say to her partner who was again coming to her rescue while she was emotionally charged. How could she tell him that the excitement she could barely contain the day before was due to another lapse in judgment? How could Anthony DiNozzo, the king of flings, possibly understand how hard this fall had hit his once aggressively flirtatious partner?

She was mourning not only the end of her relationship with Ray, but the death of any hope of a casual relationship for possibly the rest of her life. Tony could relate to having issues but he had the luxury of deciding if and when he let any of his insecurities show. Even though a fly-by-night relationship was no longer something she desired, each one-night stand or inconsequential fling Tony had since Somalia twisted the knife in her heart just a little more.

The thoughts swirled through her mind making her alternately resentful and thankful for his reassuring presence. If only she had a mom or older sister that she could talk to, someone other than Tony.

It was always Tony.

She had to admit that he had wormed his way into a special place in her heart. There was no definition for what he had become. The loosest term, partner, described a level of commitment to her well-being, but through the years he had become more. Perhaps that was now the problem.

When she allowed herself moments of sober realization, she admitted that it could only be Tony in the end. He was the one who could see beyond both the assassin and the victim. Everyone else required Ziva to guide them through both personas at a slow pace, and honestly she didn't know if the effort or the risks involved with breaking in someone else would ever be worth it. Yet it was definitely not an issue of settling. Tony had always been there for her, and when he was not around she felt the lack of him acutely. She wanted nothing more than the assurance that he would never be swept away by another leggy beauty that could provide him with a baggage free future, but at the same time she did not want him to settle either. She wanted the best for him and honestly, how could that possibly be her?

A new wave of depression washed over her and she sighed betraying her conscious state.

Tony's movements halted. He knew she was awake and aware that he was trying to massage the worry out of her, uninvited. He had teased her enough that he was likely the last person she wanted to touch her at this moment, but his selfish desire to have that connection kept him in this precarious position. He honestly had tried to think of someone who could better help her, but in the end he decided that he could not entrust her to anyone else.

Ziva couldn't find any words so her partner started off with a benign, "Hey."

This was followed by a significant lack of a response.

She couldn't trust herself to speak just yet. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply until she regained her composure.

"Good morning, Tony."

Okay, she was talking to him so that was a start.

He didn't trust himself not to say the wrong thing, so he kept silent, rubbing her back hoping that all his feelings for her would somehow seep through the covers. After all, they seldom needed words to communicate. He was relieved that she hadn't so much as twitched in disapproval of his efforts.

Ziva could not will herself to stop Tony's calming measures or kill their peaceful moment. She resumed running the evening through her mind, feeling a little safer doing so while she wasn't alone.

_She'd had a great dinner out with Roy followed by a romantic stroll along the Potomac. When she saw the water reflected in his eyes, she tried to put all of her concerns aside and bask in the moment. _

_He had kissed her. Not for the first time, but she had felt a new intensity in it, and with it had come a surge of panic. She had continued the kiss without giving any indication that had she felt anything but romantic bliss. Ziva had spent the rest of their journey gently urging him on at a lazy stroll until the walk had turned into a hike and even her burning feet were crying for relief. They had gone back to her apartment and that was when their misaligned expectations had collided. _

_She'd made it clear to him that she had wanted to take things slowly. He had trouble accepting that his efforts to come and see her did not warrant more. He had pushed too hard, the tough Mossad assassin cowered, and by the end of the night he had gone and taken with him another shard of her flagging self-worth._

The bottom line was that even though she had spent time with Roy, became friends with him and was attracted to him, she did not trust him enough. She couldn't even say that Roy reacted irrationally. Who would want to stick it out with someone who had so many obvious issues when there are people in the world who are both beautiful and unaffected?

This train of thought led her back to considering her solitary future.

At least she'd always have Gibbs.

That thought made her pity Gibbs.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

While Tony had mustered the courage to speak, Ziva had forgotten that they had started a conversation at all.

She shrugged then responded, "I am not even sure what there is to talk about, unless you would like me to admit that I should have known better."

Ouch. He didn't want to go anywhere near an 'I told you so' but he wasn't surprised that she felt that way.

"Ziva, look at me." He didn't continue until Ziva turned her head and looked at him vacantly. "Whatever happened, it was not your fault."

She sat up and leaned her back against the headboard, trying to capture the words to explain to him that this was about more than one guy. Sure Roy had been rude, but her main concern was her own issues, not his behavior.

She drew her knees up and rested her arms on them.

Tony shifted so he was sitting facing her directly and he placed a reassuring hand on the covers over her foot and lightly squeezed. He was clearly worried, an expression which broke her silence.

"I just need to come to terms with the fact that my life has been altered. I am not who I once was and acting as though I am is clearly not a sensible option."

A heavy silence followed.

"Well, you are definitely still witty, dangerous and extremely attractive. Any guy who is willing to risk letting you go is a moron as far as I'm concerned."

He gave her a guarded smile.

"Thank you, Tony, but unfortunately, it is a bit more complicated than that. I seem to have developed some . . . trust issues."

"Trust issues." Tony stated for clarification.

"Yes, trust issues."

Seeing he would not be satisfied with that euphemism, she had to fight through the urge to run to safer topics. She knew she needed to talk and again she ran through her options and Tony topped the list, aside from Gibbs, but this was not something she wanted to discuss with 'Dad.'

"What he did was not so wrong. Tony, I cannot believe I am telling you this, you will think I am overreacting."

"Ziva, just talk to me. What's said in Gibb's guest room stays in Gibb's guest room. Think of it as our own little trust bubble."

He wanted to put his arm around her but he knew that the less he changed their current position, the less likely she was to find an out. Instead he focused on her eyes, willing her to continue.

"I felt . . . cornered. I panicked and pushed him away, forcefully. I went to get a glass of water to calm down and when I returned to the room he was packing. He left without looking back."

The 'Very Special Agent DiNozzo' was at war with 'friend Tony.' The investigator wanted to know the details, to determine if any prosecutable crimes were committed and to beat the stuffing out of the chump regardless. The friend knew, especially given what she had just shared, that the more the special agent pushed, the higher the risk that she would clam up and the confidence that they had so carefully crafted over the years would start to crack.

Ziva knew her partner well enough to know that he was showing much restraint by not giving her the third degree. He hated when she withheld information from him, no matter how trivial, and this was not trivial. She decided to reward his forbearance by answering some of the questions he was not asking. "Tony, you cannot arrest him for anything untoward."

"Well, did he at least double park? Jaywalk? Anything?" He smiled at her and she immediately responded in kind.

"Sorry, Tony, he was completely law abiding and anyway he is not in the service so he would be out of your jurisdiction."

He cringed his mock disappointment.

Now that 'DiNozzo' was appeased on the big issues, 'Tony," wanted nothing more than to make sure that she was emotionally sound. He read through what she wasn't saying. He guessed what she had been subjected to in Africa even though she never vocalized it. He thought about the few flings he'd had since then and how they were anything but fulfilling. Suave Tony DiNozzo walked through them without much thought. The surge of guilt at the memories were only matched by the honest assessment that she wasn't missing out on having transient relationships, if you can even call them that. He scooted over on the bed so he was sitting next to her, his legs drawn up to match her position.

He cleared his throat. "You know, a sage person once told me that the man I had become needed a woman, not a girl, not meaningless flings. Looking back, there is a lot of wisdom in that."

They both looked straight ahead while they each recalled the memory of Tony's depression following Jeanne.

"Tony, I am in no danger of casual relationships. Rather, I doubt if I will ever be able to have any relationship of substance since most start off casually and apparently I can't even handle that."

He didn't look at her while he cautiously admitted, "Well, you have guy friends and the best relationships generally start off with a solid friendship. You may not feel like going out on dates, but romance isn't a prerequisite for trust, ironically, it should be the other way around."

She furrowed her brow and considered what he had said. It was obviously contrary to how Tony DiNozzo had functioned in the past. The problem remained that she worked with all her friends, and that created additional complications. She did not think he was honestly suggesting . . . but she could not rule it out, either.

"Tony, I do not have that many friends."

"Well, it only takes one"

He gave her a sideways glance.

"For instance, the most significant relationship I've ever had with a woman has been not only a friendship, but a celibate one at that."

The corner of his mouth hitched slyly while the gravity of the underlying conversation urged his heart to beat at a breakneck speed. It was too important to rush. She confided in him, but he wasn't sure if she wanted, or needed anything more from him. He was her best friend and if he made the wrong assumption she would feel even more alienated. Not to mention that Gibbs would have his hide if he did anything to upset her while he was under orders to comfort her.

She huffed then responded, "Well, it might be celibate, but is has hardly been monogamous, Tony."

He forced a rueful laugh but did not risk eye contact as he replied, "Ah, true, and yet, all the others have come and gone, and here you are. I'd say that's significant."

She reached over and lightly placed her hand on his arm, and once she held his tentative eyes she responded, "Yes, I would say that is significant."

He gave her an intense look, not wanting to move on from this moment, but years of speaking before thinking overtook his better judgment. He placed his hand over hers and responded, "Ziva, do you trust me?"

She leaned on his shoulder. "Tony, you are one of the few men in this world who can handle my intense unpredictability. Heaven knows you have had plenty of reasons to keep your distance, but here _you_ are. As much as I am capable of trusting, yes, I do trust you, Tony. I am not sure that I trust myself, though."

Tony turned and kissed her unkempt hair, "Well, I trust you, Ziva David, and I'm not going anywhere."

They sat together communicating through caressing fingers, no longer feeling compelled to speak.

**El Fin**


End file.
